Versus do you like it? is it worth the price?

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  • Bob Heybrock
    Member
    • Jan 2011
    • 51

    #16
    I work on 99% European and purchased my Gen 1 Verus in July '10 (not long before the Gen 2 as released ) and initially I was impressed with the software from SO because of the Component Test information, the 4 channel digital scope including the graphing multi-meter & many other features, which allowed me to confidently take on problem vehicles. Maybe I have become a little less reliant on the component test feature as my experience has increased but I am still using the scanner & scope as much as ever and I really like the ability to save data from both.

    There seems to be so much potential for this tool but I feel that SO is lacking in fully utilizing that ability, including the severly dated hardware as mentioned in other posts. Realize that I am working on mostly Euro cars but I am starting to become less impressed with the call-in assistance offered by SO tech support and have never had any in-field assistance to speak of. The scanner software is full of omissions & uncompleted changes and although Tech Support says they will make a note of it I am starting to feel it is just "lip service." It's as if SO just did not bother to do a little more research to give complete information. Additionally bugs, which should be handled with a free (and I use that term loosely) "patch" require the purchase of the next release at significant $$.

    I would think twice before commiting long term for the on-line Mitchell/Shop Key On Demand as again it has everything to do with customer service. If there is missing data check out the response you get from the support team. In the past AllData had SO beat hands down in that area. Yes it would be cool to hyperlink directly from the Verus to Shop-Key but since SO says NOT to run Windows auto-updates (I don't think they suggest any virus protection either) on Verus I stay off-line except to check for software patches. You will read that many guys have had to handle virus problems with their Verus units.

    Buying the Verus is certainly an easy one unit that does alot and I must admit that the few times I have worked on a domestic vehicle I am amazed at the capability & speed of it so if that is what you work on most then my comments may mostly be irrelevant. Good Luck!

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    • RWDragoon
      Junior Member
      • Aug 2008
      • 1

      #17
      I bought the Verus as soon as it was released, and I think I have the 1st or 2nd one in Alberta, Canada. Compared to the Modis it sure seemed like a super powerful system, that could expand and grow as my new shop needed. Boy was I disappointed.

      My shop usually works on Japanese cars of all sorts, with occasional domestic as well. I needed a scan tool with the capabilities of all so I could obtain my out-of-province inspection license even though I never work on Euro. I am a specialty shop that focus's on high performance street and race cars. We are not the average high volume shop. The 4 channel scope appealed to me as it would be useful when paired with my chassis dyno.

      I think the first version I had was 8.4? It was brutal. Buttons were tiny and very difficult to press with the crappy touch screen. We had communication problems from day one with Subaru vehicles (One of the most common vehicle I work on) Tech support was useless and never solved a problem... ever. After using the unit for more then a year, and pretty dissatisfied with the $14,000 unit (had to upgrade to Euro/Asian, COP adapters, and a few other accessories) I then tried to bleed a transmission on a Mitsubishi Evolution X we had in the shop. No such menu's to do so. I phoned tech support and walked through exactly what I was trying to do, and I had a factory Service manual for the car I was working on. My question was simple, with a software upgrade does this allow or enable the ability to service the transmission on the Evo X? Tech support went through the available options and menu's and said no it wasn't supported, but perhaps in a future release it would be. Again I'm dissatisfied with my very expensive purchase, and cant even upgrade it to perform a simple task. Randomly a friend of mine from another shop stopped by and was using my dyno on his car, and he brought along his own Verus to do some monitoring. His was a newer version then mine 10.something I borrowed it for 2 minutes and went through the menu's and sure enough it clearly listed the ability to bleed Evo X transmission(my Tech support phone call was the same week!) Now I am pretty pissed off and called my local dealer, who conveniently had a conference in town with the "head guy" that handles sales, questions related to diagnostic equipment. I went to the conference and they were explaining the release of the new wireless version without personality keys. After it was over I had a good discussion with the diagnostics guy, explaining that I am not the most typical shop, I dont use it more then 10 times a month, but when I try and use it, often it just doesn't work or communicate. He tells me that my problem is my software is very old and out dated, that many fixes have been applied, and the machine in general will run much faster! All for the low price of $1200cad with no satisfaction guarantee.

      I bite the bullet and go for it, spend the money and they update my tool. My local dealer picked it up and returned it in 1 or 2 days updated. It blue screened of death the first time the dealer tried to show me how great it was. The second boot up it seemed to work ok.

      It was a pretty large improvement, the buttons were large so you could usually click on what you intended, it used scrolling similar to an Iphone (but not nearly as smooth or good) and the menu's were cleaner. I dont think it really was any faster, except you didn't waste as much time clicking on the wrong menu's!

      8 months ago the head diagnostics rep stops by my shop as my dealer has asked him to, due to my dissatisfaction. The rep listens to all my complaints and problems, we have normal 2008+ Subaru's at the shop it doesn't work in front of him, he suggest something wrong with the cable or key, we borrow one, same exact problem. It doesn't work on any of the new Nissan GTR's, 2008+ Subarus, and most other cars we work on. The rep doesn't care, doesn't do anything to help, doesn't even try to scam me into trading in on the new hardware.... nothing

      It's now 3 years since I bought it brand new, I'm running version 11.2 and I cant communicate with any Subaru's 2008 or newer it just endlessly wont connect. I have borrowed new cables, keys, everything and it never works. If I use OBDII Generic it works ok, with bare minimum support. It has the ability to work a little bit better with Evolutions and is able to bleed the transmission and reset TPMS. Tried it this week to connect to a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a CEL on, doesn't work, cant connect. Generic mode, works fine.

      All in all I think its a pretty crappy product, not what I would expect from the "Legendary Snap-On" Poor product, poor support, poor choice to buy

      I'm located in Calgary, Alberta and if anyone would like to try it out I invite it. Dont make the same mistake as me! ryan at vexperformance.com

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      • Manic Mechanic
        Member
        • Aug 2008
        • 37

        #18
        Expensive paper weight

        I've had my VERUS for several years and have been very dis-satisfied with it over all, The scope functions are too slow, It always crashes , Locks up and I have no other software installed as I did at first , The scan data is not accurate so basically it's just an expensive code reader , The best route is a PICO scope and a PC based scanner , If you want a stand alone scanner there are far better scanners out there than anything Snap-On has to offer
        Manic Mechanic

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